ii EARLY LIFE IN LONDON 29 



against the benches. After some time, when order 

 was restored for a minute, Graham very quietly, but 

 in sight of the audience, tore up the note without 

 opening it. This was a signal for a further and more 

 determined salvo of femur gunnery, which lasted for 

 perhaps ten minutes, the professor standing quietly for 

 some time and at last sending for a stool, upon which 

 he sat, showing that he was determined to outface the 

 malcontents. Their muscular energy somewhat ex- 

 hausted, silence was once more restored, and Graham 

 said in a quiet voice : " At the end of the last lecture, 

 gentlemen, we were studying the properties of hydro- 

 chloric acid. I will now proceed with a further de- 

 scription," upon which another roar occurred ; and 

 this farce repeated itself many times. At last, wearied 

 out with the vain attempt to carry on his class, but 

 determined not to refer to anything but the business 

 in hand, Graham had to retire, the students celebrating 

 their victory by another salvo of femurs. 



The professor of Natural Philosophy was an extraor- 

 dinary man an enormous bulky body, with a face 

 like a woman's and a piping voice. His method was 

 that of the Cambridge of that day. His lectures were 

 not experimental, and they were not appreciated by 

 my fellow-students. He generally read from his own 

 book on mechanics, holding it in his hand while he 

 wrote up a formula on the blackboard, and occasionally 

 would become confused, and would pipe out when a 

 mistake was pointed out : " Reading and writing, 

 gentlemen, reading and writing, make a mistake." 

 Times have changed as regards the teaching of physics, 

 nothing less than a revolution having occurred. The 

 question of the dismissal of an undesirable professor 

 is a most difficult one, especially where no retiring 

 pension is allowed. At last, however, the professor 



